Vibratory conveyer or motor and means for controlling same



L. P. DOYLE Feb. 24, 1942.

VIBRATORY CONVEYER OR MOTOR AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING SAME Filed Nov. 5, 1938 2 Sheets-Shea; .1 V

ATT'x f/vvE/vroR LEE I? DOYLE,

BY GL 7')? 77% L. P. DOYLE 2,273,912

VIBRATORY CONVEYER OR MOTOR AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING SAME Feb. 24, 1942.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f/vvE/vToR: LEE P DoYLE,

BY A 0 mm,

Filed Nov. 5, 1938 Patented Feb. 24, 1942 VIBRATORY CONVEYER OR MOTOR AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLHN'G SAME Lee P. Doyle, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Traylor Vibrator Company, a corporation of Colorado Application November 5, 1938, Serial No. 239,088

7 Claims.

This invention relates to an electrical system including a vibratory conveyer having a vibratory electro-magnetic motor and means for con trolling the same to maintain a substantially constant feed rate of the conveyer or a constant amplitude of vibration of the motor.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for conveying material at a substantially constant rate.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved control system for maintaining at ing set forth in the appended claims.

, In the accompanying drawings,

'stantially constant.

carrying out my invention;

the cover plate removed;

mechanism of Fig. 3; and

tem.

screen.

frame casting H, which main frame casting is supported by legs I8 resting upon coil spring supports IS. The lower end of the armature shaft I is connected by a bracket 20 to an armature 2| of laminated steel. Spaced from the armature 2| is a field structure 22 including a U-shaped laminated core 23 and a field winding 24 adjustably supported by brackets 25 from U- shaped supports 28 by way of adjusting screws 21, the U-shaped supports 26 being attached to the main frame casting l1.

The members above described, except for the deck ll, constitute a vibratory electro-magnetic motor designated generally by the reference character 28. To balance the deck H to prevent undue twisting of the spring bars [6 the lower end of the armature shaft I5 is connected to the a substantially constant value the amplitude of rear end of the deck by an upstanding bracket vibration of a vibratory electro-magnetic motor. 29'.

Other objects of the invention will appear here- The amplitude of vibration of the deck II is inafter, the novel features and combinations bedetermined in part by the current flow in the field winding 24 and in part by the load on said deck II. It is extremely desirable in many in- Fig. l is a side elevational view of a vibratory stances to maintain the amplitude of vibration conveyer or feeder which forms a portion of my and thus the feed rate of the conveyer or feeder invention showing also a part of the control substantially constant, assuming the depth of the mechanism for maintaining its feed rate sub- 'material in the feeder to be substantially con stant. This last mentioned condition can be re- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of alized by providing a gate in the bottom of a the electrical pick-up mechanism employed in .feed hopper which feeds the conveyer I'll.

' Another condition which is often encountered Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of another is that a constant amplitude of vibration is de portion of the electrical pick-up mechanism with sired without regard to the feed rate being constant, and it is desirable to maintain this con- Fig. 4 is a sectional elevational view of the stant amplitude at a relatively low value. For 30 example-when material is to be fed to a cooler Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram of the control sysliia relatively uniform and relatively thin bed, p the amplitude of vibration of the conveyer or Referring particularly to Fig. l of the drawfeeder I0 is preferably relatively low. ings. there is seen a vibratory conveyer or feeder amplitude is set at a low value for a relatively III of the electro-magnetic type which, in gensmallamount of material on the deck the eral, follows the structure disclosed in the applivibration of said deck II will substantially cease cation of James A. Flint, Serial No. 73,318, filed incase a very heavy load is discharged thereon April 8, 1936, now Patent No. 2,251,586, dated without an increase in current to the motor 28. August 5, 1941, entitled Vibratory feeder and The method and system herein disclosed is op- I 4.0 erated automatically to maintain this low rate Briefly described, said conveyer or feeder in feeding of material by spreading it out in a thin includes a deck I I which has a material supbed, even though the material may be fed to the porting bottom and which is supported in part deck H in batches of appreciable weight. from a superstructure I! y a flexible cable and To maintain at a substantially'constant value spring means 13. Rigidly attached to said deck the amplitude of vibration of the deck II and of II as by bolts is an armature shaft l5 through the vibratory motor 28, I provide an automatic which thread a plurality of stacked spring bars control system now to be described; Associated l8 clamped at their centers to said armature with the conveyer or feeder II] or with the motor shaft i5 and at their opposite ends to a main is is an electrical pickn which s 30 preferably of a form adapted to generate a potential which is proportional to the amplitude of vibration of the deck H or armatureshaft l5.

In the drawings I have illustrated one form of such electrical pick-up mechanism which comprises a vibratory member 30 shown in detail in If this Fig. 2 of the drawings. Said vibratory member 30 comprises a base 3| having therein a hole 52 through which a machine screw 33 (see Fig. 1)

is adapted to pass and anchor the vibratory member 30 to the deck H, or any portion of the vi- 5 bratory motor 28 which is rigidly attached to the armature shaft I5.

At one end the base 3| is provided with an upstanding plate 34 to which is clamped a steel vibraton reed 35 by means of a clamping bar 36. The free end of the reed 35 carries a steel block 31. Intermediate its ends the reed 35 may be adjustably clamped by clamp screws 35 carried upon a bifurcated bracket 39 supported by the base 3|.

Cooperating with the vibratory mechanism 30 is a stationary mechanism 40' illustrated in detail in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings which is supported by the supports 26, or any other portion of the. motor 28 which is rigidly attached to the main frame H. The stationary mechanism 40 is essentially an ordinary telephone receiver comprising a permanent magnet 4|, the legs of which are provided with coils 42 which are supported upon a base 43 and contained within a housing 44 having a removable cap 45'provided with a central opening to expose the ends of the magnet 4|. The housing is rigidly attached to a metal base 45 which, in turn, is preferably welded to an angle member 41 adapted to be attaohed to the supports 25 by removable screws, as above described.

As seen by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the steel block 31 of the vibratory mechanism 30 is positioned to vibrate adjacent the ends 5 of the magnet. As is well understood, vibratory motion of the block 31 will induce a potential in the coils 42 which, as is well known, will be proportional to the amplitude of vibration of said block 31. This amplitude of vibration of the block 31 is determined by and directly proportional to the amplitude of vibration of the deck H or the armature shaft l5 or any member which is rigidly attached to either of them. In other words, the voltage generated in the coils 42 will be proportional to the amplitude of vibration of the conveyor In or motor 28.

The coils 42 are connected over apair of conductors in a cable 48 to an electrical control apparatus, at least a portion of which is. housed 50 in a cabinet 49 as seen in Fig. 1 of the drawings, which cabinet 49 may be supported on any desired means, such as a stand 50.

While I have illustrated one form of an elec--" trical pick-up mechanism it is to be understood that any other form may be employed and in practice I have successfully used a piezo-electric crystal inertia type of electrical pick-up in place of that illustrated, which is directly connected to and supported by the deck II, or a vibratory portion of the motor 28, the axis of vibration of which is carefully set at right angles to the plane of the crystal. It is to be. understood that this type of pick-up may be substituted for that illustrated.

Referring particularly to Fig. 5 of the drawings, there is illustrated a circuit for the electrical control mechanism of my invention. The cable 48 is connected to the primary of a stepup transformer 5| which steps up the potential generated by the pick-up mechanism and feeds it'to a high gain vacuum tube amplifier which may be of any desired form. In the drawings I have illustrated a two stage type of amplifier including a pentode'tube 52 and a triode, tube 53. The source of direct current potential for the ampilfier is from a full-wave rectifier 54 of well known construction including a full-wave rectifier tube 55, the out-put of which is fed through a filter 56.

The circuits for the rectifier and amplifier may be traced as follows:" current is derived from the usual source of alternating current of 110 volts by way of conductors 51 and 55 and line switch 51, of which conductor 55 has a control switch 59 in circuit therewith, leading to the primary of rectifier transformer 50. The two plates of the rectifier tube 55 are connected to opposite terminals of the secondary 5! of transformer 55, the center tap of which secondary 5! is grounded at 52. The filament of the tube 55 is heated by secondary 63 of the transformer 55. The positive terminal of the out-put circuit of the rectifier 55 leads to conductor 54 by way of the choke coil 55 which is a portion of said filter 55; said filter additionally including grounded condensers 56 one on each side of said choke coil 55, one of which is also preferably shunted by a multi-megohm resistor 51.

The transformer 50 also has another secondary 58 which heats the filaments of the tubes 52 and and also lights a signal lamp 6! which will be illuminated whenever the switch 55 is closed, thereby indicating that power is supplied to the control circuit.

The potential generated in the secondary of the fact that one terminal of said secondary is connected to the control grid 15 of said tube 52 and the other terminal is grounded, the cathode ll of said tube 52 being also grounded through resistor 12. The direct current plate or out-put circuit of said tube 52 is from plate or anode 15 thereof, conductor 14, multi-megohm resistors 15 and 16 to the positive conductor 54 of the aforedescribed rectifier 54. As was above pointed out, the cathode of said tube 52 is connected to ground and the negative terminal of 45 the rectifier 54 is also connected to ground 52, thus providing a plate or out-put directcurrent voltage between the cathode II and the anode or plate 12 of said tube 52.

It may additionally be mentioned that the pentode tube 52 is provided with a screen grid which is'connected to the positive conductor 54 through megohm resistor 55 and is connected to ground through condenser I1. In addition, said tube 52 is provided with suppresser grid II which is connected to the cathode H and to ground through condenser 19.

Connected across the resistor 15 is a decibel meter 55 provided with an adjustable shunting rheostat II. It may be stated that the function of this decibel meter 55 is to give a direct measurement of the voltage generated by the pick-up mechanism and the reading of the scale thereof may be adjusted by the rheostat ll. In practice, when a desired amplitude oi'..vlbration of the deck or motor is realized rheostat II is adjusted to give any predetermined reading of the meter ll. Thereafterit is only necessary to adjust the amplitude of'vibration of the conveyer or motor to give this same reading of the meter II to insure the same amplitude of vibration thereof.

The alternating current out-put circuit of the tube 52 extends from conductor 14 through condenser 82 and multi-megohm potentiometer rheostat 53 which is grounded to complete the alternating current out-put circuit. The alter nating current potential or an adjustable portion thereof across the potentiometer rheostat 83 is fed to the in-put circuit of the tube 53 of the amplifier over an obvious circuit including adjustable contact 84 associated with said rheostat 83 which leads to control grid 85. The cathode out-put circuit for the tube 53 leads from the conductor 9I through condenser 91 to one terminal of a full-wave bridge rectifier 98 which may be of the copper oxide type, the opposite termi- The direct current nal of which is grounded, thereby completing this alternating current circuit.

It is to be understood that the above-described rectifier, amplifier and filter are purely illustrative and any well known form of any of these mechanisms may be employed.

It is, of course, evident that the bridge rectifier 98 operates as a full-wave rectifier and converts the alternating current out-put of the amplifier 'into pulsating direct current hich is fed over conductors 99 and'I00 to the vanometer type relay IOI.

inding of a gal- The galvanometer type relay MI, in addition to the winding, in-, cludes a pointer I02 adapted to contact adjustable contacts I03 and I04 or to assume a position intermediate said contacts I03 and I04. The contacts I03 and I04 are carried .on an adjustable mechanism and form a standard of comparison,

that is, whenever a desired amount of current fiows through the, coil of the galvanometer MI by way ofconductors 99 and.l00 the pointer.I02 assumes a position between contacts I03 and I04 and out of contact with each of them. If the current becomes too low pointer I02 makes contact .with contact I03 and if it becomes too high it makes contact with contact I04.

Both the contacts I03 and I04 are independently adjustable with respect to the carrier upon which they are mounted. thereby making it possible to adjust the allowed range of movement of the pointer I02 before either of said contacts was contacted thereby.

It is, of course; evident that the position of the pointer I02'will indicate the amplitude ofvibration of the conveyer I0 or motor 28 and the range of movement thereof may be controlled by controlling the position of the contact 84 on potentiometer rheostat 83. Assuming that contact 84 has been adjusted so that pointer-I02 assumes a desired position for a predetermined amplitude of vibration of the conveyer I0 or motor 28 the standard or carrier upon which contacts I03 and I04 are supported is adjusted so that pointer I02 is out of contact with each of said contacts I03 and I04. Said contacts I03 the deck is measured directly by the galvanometer,IOI and this measurement is calibrated, and

upon a predetermined variation either above or below a predetermined value control means are set in operation which control means are now to be described.

A transformer I is connected to the source of alternating current supply by being connected across the conductor 51 and-conductor 58' which is an extension of conductor 58 through switch 59 so that when said switch 59 is closed said transformer I05 is energized. Transformer I05 steps down the voltage on conductors 51 and 58 and feeds it to a full-wave bridge rectifier I05, preferably of the copper oxide type, the direct current out-put of which is fed to conductors I01 and I08 which have a high ohm resistor I09 connected between them, and switch I01 connected in series with conductor I01. Conductor I01 is connected to the pointer I02 of galvanometer'relay I.0I. Conductor I08 is provided with a number of branches one of which leads to high or red signal lamp I I0; another of which leads to low or green signal lamp III and others of which lead to the upper terminals of windings H2 and II 3 of control relays H4 and H5 respectively. It is therefore evident that to energize any of said elements IIO, III, H2 and H3 itis only necessary to connect the other terminal of them to conductorl01.

It may be stated that the control relays I I4, I I5 are normally biased to the positions illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings in which positions said relays through upper contacts H8 and H1 close an obvious circuit to' energize white or normal signal lamp II8 from the secondary 88 of trans- '-former 60. Whenever the switch 59 is closed and the galvanometer type. relay IOI is in its normal position, signal lamp II8 will be energized to indicate this fact. Should pointer I02 make contact with the contact member I03 this will effect a connection from conductor I01 by way of conductor 201 toenergize low or green signal lamp III and the coil II2 of relay II4. Should pointer I02 make contact with the contact I04 this "will eifect a connection from conductor I01 by way of conductor 301 .to energize high or red signallamp H0 and the coil II3 of relay H5. l

The relays H4 and H5 are operative to control a motor operated rheostat I20 which controls the amount of current flow to the field winding 24 of the motor 28 by controlling an impedance in series therewith.

It will be seen that the conductor 58' extends directly to one brush of the armature I2I of the motor operated rheostat I20, the other brush of which is connected by conductor I22 to the center of a reversing field winding I23 of a reversible type motor, including the armature I2I and winding I23, which is connected to' drive an adjustable contact I24 of a rheostat or resistor I25 or other impedance adjusting mechanism. The opposite terminals of the winding I 23 are connected over conductors I28 and I21 to movable contacts I28 and I29, respectively, of the control relays H4 and H5. Associated with said movable contacts I28 and I29 are cooperating stationary contacts forming complete switches,

which stationary contacts are connected directly to the conductor 51.

' It is thus evident that whenever winding II2 of relay II 4 is energized contact I28 will move to circuit making position .thereby to energize half of the winding I23 in series with the armature I2I and this in turn is effective to rotate the contact I24 to decrease the resistance or impedance I25 which is in series with the field winding 24, which winding 24 is energized from main line conductors I30 and I3I through main control switch I32.

It may be stated that switches 51' and I32 should be opened simultaneously or closed simultaneously thus preventing any change of the rheostat I25 by the control system in case the amplitude of vibration of the vibratory conveyer motor is reduced to zero by de-energization.

To provide for adjustment of the rheostat I25 manually, I provide a reversible switch I33 leading from conductor 51 to be connected alternately to conductors I 26 or I21 or to be in a neutral position. It is manifest that by virtue of switch I33 the motor operated rheostat may be manually adjusted either to increase or decrease the effective value of resistance I25 independent of the control system.

Energization of winding II3 of relay II will energize the other half of winding I23 in series with the armature I2I to increase the amount of the resistance or impedance in series with the field winding 24.

It is also to be noted that whenever relay II4 or relay H5 is energized the circuit to the white or normal light I I8 is opened through one of the contacts H6, III.

In the operation of the device comprising my invention, with the consequent realization of the method of my invention, the rheostat I is adjusted by control switch I33 to produce any desired amplitude of vibration of the vibratory conveyer I0 or motor 20 after switches 51' and l32 are closed. Switch 50 is then closed and after the amplifier and full-wave rectifier 54 have had time to come up to temperature the rheostat BI is adjusted to give any desiredreading of the decibel motor 80, preferably near the center of the scale thereof to act as a reference point. Contact 84 of the potentiometer rheostat 03 is then adjusted to bring the-pointer I02 to any desired position and intermediate the contacts I03 and I04 carried by the standard of the galvanometer type relay IOI which is to determine the future control of the rheostat I25.

. Under the conditions above specified the lamp B9 and the lamp II8 are, energized, the former indicating that the full-wave rectifier and amplifler are in circuit and the latter indicating that the relays H4, H5 are in their normal de-energized condition. Switch I01 is then closed to make effective the control of relays H4, H5 by galvanometer relay NH. The apparatus is then under full automatic control.

Should the amplitude of vibration of the conveyer I0 or motor 20 decrease this will produce a decreased amplitude of vibration of the block 31 and a proportional decrease in potential of the transformer 5I. This amplified potential is, of course, rectified and" delivered to the galvanometer type relay IOI in which the current flow is thus reduced 'over the predetermined amount causing the pointer I02 to move from its predetermined value, as indicated by the stand ard, and make contact with the contact I03. This will cause an energization of the green signal lamp I II and of the winding II2 of relay II4 which will close contact I20 and open contact Hi, the former of which will cause the motor operated rheostat to operate and decrease the effective value of the resistance or impedance I25, the latter of which will break the signal circuit to the white or normal signal lamp I I0.

It is to be particularly noted that until the pointer I02 is returned to coincide with the standard of galvanometer relay IM or, in other words, until the normal condition is realized, motor operated rheostat I20 will operate to reduce the impedance or resistance of rheostat I25. This insures that the amplitude of vibration will always be returned to this predetermined value.

If the amplitude of vibration increases above the predetermined value, as determined by the relative positions of the pointer I02 and the standard of galvanometer relay IOI, pointer I02 will make contact with the contact I04 to energize red signal lamp H0 and the winding II3 of relay II5 which, through contact I29, will operate the motor operated rheostat I20 to increase the resistance or impedance of rheostat I25 until the normal condition is again realized and will open the circuit to white lamp III through contact III. I

It is thus to be noted that not only does the system operate entirely automatically to measure the amplitude of vibration of the vibratory conveyer or motor, and to compare it with a standard predetermined indicator, and further, to adjust the current rate to maintain a uniform amplitude of vibration, but in addition, the condition of the system is indicated at all times by appropriate signals.

As was previously set forth, the resulting control system insures a constant feed rate of the feeder I0 in case the depth of the material on the deck is uniform; and in case the depth of the material is not uniform, such as when material is fed in batches, the system insures a continuous feeding of the material and the vibration of the deck or motor at a constant amplitude regardless of the amount of material which may be on the deck at any time.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as, defined by the claims hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed. 4

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In conveyer apparatus, the combination with a conveyer deck mounted for conveyer vibration, of an alternating current electromagnetic motor connected to said deck to impart thereto vibrations equal in frequency to the frequency of the current applied to .said electromagnetic motor, an alternating current electrical circuit including anadjustable impedance for controlling the current flow thereto, means comprising an electric pilot motor for varying said impedance to effect variation of such amplitude of vibration, a pick-up mounted on said conveyer apparatus and adapted to generate potential in proportionv to the amplitude of vibration,' means comprising a galvanometer and an amplifier con nected to said pick-up to indicate the amplitude of vibration, and means controlled by variations 2. In an electrical system, the combination with a vibratory conveyer having a deck and a vibratory motor for vibrating said conveyer to deck, a galvanometer relay, amplifier and rectifier means between said electrical pick-up and said galvanometer relay for setting up a current flow to the galvanometer proportional to said voltage, and means controlled by said galvanometer relay for eflecting variation of said ime pedance to regulate said amplitude of vibration.

3. In an electrical system, the combination with a vibratory conveyer having a deck and a vibratory motor connected to said deck to impart conveying vibrations thereto, 01' an electrical circuit for said motor including an adjustable impedance for controlling the current fiow thereto, means adapted to generate a voltage proportional to any one of various amplitudes of vibration of said deck, a galvanometer, amplifier and rectifier meansforsettingupacurrentfiowtosaldgalvariation of current flow through said galvanometer due to variation from the aforesaid predetermined value of said amplitude of vibration to eiIect operation of said variable impedance to restore said amplitude of vibration to its predetermined value and to restore the reading of said meter and said galvanometer accordingly.

5. In vibratory apparatus, the combination with a vibratory electric motor having a vibrating member, an electrical circuit including an amplifier and means for measuring the amplitude of vibration of said vibrating member, means forming a standard of comparison with said amplitude measuring means having a predetermined normal relation therewith when the amplitude of vibration of said vibratory electric motor has a predetermined selected amplitude of vibration, and mechanism operable in response to variations in the amplitude of vibration of said vibrating member under the joint control of said measuring means and said standard to restore said amplitude of vibration to its predetermined selected value.

vanorneter proportional to said voltage to enable such galvanometer to indicate a predetermined amplitude of vibration of said deck, and means controlled by said galvanometer to vary said impedance to efl'ect such regulation of the vibration or said deck that said predetermined amplitude may be maintained with varying loads on said deck.

4. In an electrical system, the combination with a vibratory conveyer having a vibratory conveyer deck and an electro-magnetic motor connected thereto to operate the same, of means mounted on said vibratory conveyer to generate a voltage proportional to the amplitude of vibration of said deck, an electrical circuit for said motor including a variable impedance to control the current flow to said motor, a galvanometer, means connected between said voltage generating means and said galvanometer for producing a current fiow through the latter, a meter, means for adjusting said meter to indicate a predetermined amplitude of vibration, means for varying the current flow through said galvanometer to eiiect setting of the same in central position to indicate the aforesaid predetermined amplitude oi vibration corresponding to a similar setting of said meter, and means responsive to 6. In vibratory apparatus, the combination with a vibratory electric motor having a vibrating member, an electrical circuit including pick up means responsive to the vibration of said vibrating member to generate a fluctuating voltage proportional tothe amplitude of vibration of said member, amplifier and rectifier means for converting said voltage into a direct current voltage proportional thereto, and means responsive to variations of said direct current voltage to control the rate of current flow to said electric motor to maintain the amplitude of vibration of said vibrating member substantially at a predetermined selected value.

7. In vibratory apparatus, the combination with a vibratory electric motor having a vibrating member, an electrical circuit including pick up means responsive to the vibration of said vibrating member to generate a fluctuating voltage proportional to the amplitude of vibration of said member, rectifier means for converting said voltage into a direct current voltage proportional thereto, and means responsive to variations 0! said direct current voltage to control the rate of current fiow to said electric motor to maintain the amplitude of vibration 01' said vibrating member substantially at a predetermined selected value.

LE!!! P. DOYLE. 

